_Of_ Differences _between the_ Old _and the_ New Husbandry.
In order to make a Comparison between the Hoeing-Husbandry, and the old
Way, there are Four Things, whereof the Differences ought to be very
well considered.
I. _The Expence_ }
II. _The Goodness_ } of a Crop.
III. _The Certainty_ }
IV. _The Condition in which the Land is left after a Crop._
The Profit or Loss arising from Land, is not to be computed, only
from the Value of the Crop it produces; but from its Value, after all
Expences of Seed, Tillage, _&c._ are deducted.
Thus, when an Acre brings a Crop worth _Four Pounds_, and the Expences
thereof amount to _Five Pounds_, the Owner’s Loss is _One Pound_; and
when an Acre brings a Crop which yields _Thirty Shillings_, and the
Expence amounts to no more than _Ten Shillings_, the Owner receives
_One Pound_, clear Profit, from this Acre’s very small Crop, as the
other loses _One Pound_ by his greater Crop.
_The usual Expences of an Acre of Wheat, sown in the_ old Husbandry,
_in the Country where I live, is, in some Places, for Two Bushels and
an half of Seed; in other Places Four Bushels and an half; the least
of these Quantities at_ Three Shillings per _Bushel, being the present
Price, is_ Seven Shillings _and_ Six-pence. _For Three Plowings,
Harrowing, and Sowing_, Sixteen Shillings; _but if plow’d Four times,
which is better_, One Pound. _For Thirty Load of Dung, to a Statute
Acre, is_ Two Pounds Five Shillings. _For Carriage of the Dung,
according to the Distance, from_ Two Shillings _to_ Six-pence _the
Load_, One Shilling _being the Price most common, is_ One Pound Ten
Shillings. _The Price for Weeding is very uncertain; it has sometimes
cost_ Twelve Shillings, _sometimes_ Two Shillings per _Acre_.
_l._ _s._ _d._
_In Seed and Tillage, nothing can be abated of_ 01 03 06
_For the Weeding, one Year with another, is more than_ 00 02 00
_For the Rent of the Year’s Fallow_ 00 10 00
_For the Dung; ’tis in some Places a little cheaper,
neither do they always lay on quite so much; therefore
abating_ 15_s._ _in that Article, we may well set Dung
and Carriage at_ 02 10 00
_Reaping commonly_ 5_s._ _sometimes less_ 00 04 06
------------
_Total_ 04 10 00
_Folding of Land with Sheep is reckoned abundantly cheaper than
Cart-dung; but this is to be questioned, because much Land must lie
still for keeping a Flock (unless there be Downs); and for their whole
Year’s keeping, with both Grass and Hay, there are but Three Months of
the Twelve wherein the Fold is of any considerable Value; this makes
the Price of their Manure quadruple to what it would be, if equally
good all the Year, like Cart-dung: And folding Sheep yield little
Profit, besides their Dung; because the Wool of a Flock, except it be
a large one, will scarce pay the Shepherd and the Shearers. But there
is another thing yet, which more inhances the Price of Sheep-Dung; and
that is, the dunging the Land with their Bodies, when they all die of
the Rot, which happens too frequently in many Places; and then the
whole Crop of Corn must go to purchase another Flock, which may have
the same Fate the ensuing Year, if the Summer prove wet; and so may the
Farmer be served for several more successive Years, unless he should
break, and another take his Place, or that dry Summers come in time
to prevent it. To avoid this Misfortune, he would be glad to purchase
Cart-dung at the highest Price, for supplying the Place of his Fold;
but ’tis only near Cities, and great Towns, that a sufficient Quantity
can be procured._
_But, supposing the Price of Dunging to be only Two Pounds Ten
Shillings, and the general Expence of an Acre of Wheat, when sown, at
Three Shillings_ per _Bushel, to be Four Pounds Ten Shillings, with the
Year’s Rent of the Fallow_;
The Expences of planting an Acre of Wheat in the Hoeing-Husbandry,
is Three Pecks of[226] Seed, at _Three Shillings_ _per_ Bushel, is
_Two Shillings_ and _Three-pence_. The whole Tillage, if done by
Horses, would be _Eight Shillings_; because our Two Plowings, and Six
Hoeings[227], are equal to Two Plowings; the common Price whereof is
_Four Shillings_ each; but this we diminish half, when done by Oxen
kept on St. Foin, in this manner; _viz._ Land worth _Thirty Shillings_
Rent, drill’d with St. Foin, will well maintain an Ox a Year[228], and
sometimes Hay will be left to pay for the Making: We cannot therefore
allow more than _One Shilling_ a Week for his Work, because his Keeping
comes but to _Seven-pence_ a Week round the Year.
[226] Sometimes half a Bushel is the most just Quantity of Seed, to
drill on an Acre.
[227] But we sometimes plow our Six-feet Ridges before Drilling,
at Five or Six Furrows, which is a Furrow or Two more than I have
reckoned: But we do not always hoe Six times afterwards. But it is
better for successive Wheat-crops to bestow the Labour of as many
Hoeings as amount to three plain Plowings in a Year, it being a
greater Damage to omit one necessary Hoeing, than is the Expence of
several Hoeings.
[228] Or an Ox may be well kept Nine Months, with an Acre of
indifferent Horse-ho’d Turneps; and if we value them only at the
Expence and Rent of the Land, this will be a yet cheaper Way of
maintaining Oxen. Upon more Experience it is found, that St. Foin Hay
alone, or with a small Quantity of Turneps, is best for working Oxen
in the Winter; but a Plenty of Turneps with the same Hay is better
for fatting Oxen that do not work.
In plain Plowing, Six Feet contains Eight Furrows; but we plow a
Six-feet Ridge at Four Furrows, because in this there are Two Furrows
cover’d in the Middle of it, and one on each Side of it lies open. Now
what we call one Hoeing, is only Two Furrows of this Ridge, which is
equal to a Fourth Part of one plain Plowing; so that the Hoeing of Four
Acres requires an equal Number of Furrows with one Acre that is plow’d
plain, and equal Time to do it in (except that the Land, that is kept
in Hoeing, works much easier than that which is not).
All the Tillage we ever bestow upon a Crop of Wheat that follows a ho’d
Crop, is equal to Eight Hoeings[229]; Two of which may require Four
Oxen each, One of them Three Oxen, and the other Five Hoeings Two Oxen
each. However, allow Three Oxen to each single Hoeing, taking them all
one with another, which is Three Oxen more than it comes to in the
Whole.
[229] But the Number of Oxen required will be according to their
Bigness and Strength, and to the Depth and Strength of the Soil,
which also will be the easier Draught for the Oxen, the oftener the
Intervals are hoed.
Begin at Five in the Morning, and in about Six Hours you may hoe Three
Acres, being equal in Furrows to Three Rood; _i. e._ Three Quarters of
an Acre. Then turn the Oxen to Grass, and after resting, eating, and
drinking, Two Hours and an half, with another Set of Oxen begin Hoeing
again; and by or before half an Hour after Seven at Night, another like
Quantity may be ho’d. These are the Hours the Statute has appointed all
Labourers to work, during the Summer Half-year.
To hoe these Six Acres a Day, each Set of Oxen draw the Plough only
Eight Miles and a Quarter, which they may very well do in Five Hours;
and then the Holder and Driver will be at their Work of Plowing Ten
Hours, and will have Four Hours and an half to rest, _&c._
The Expence then of hoeing Six Acres in a Day, in this manner, may be
accounted, at _One Shilling_ the Man that holds the Plough, _Six-pence_
the Boy that drives the Plough, _One Shilling_ for the Six Oxen, and
_Six-pence_ for keeping the Tackle in Repair. The whole Sum for hoeing
these Six Acres is _Three Shillings_, being _Six-pence_ _per_ Acre[230].
[230] But where there is not the Convenience of keeping Oxen, the
Price of Hoeing with Horses is One Shilling each time.
When a Roller is used, which is less than a Hoeing, because one
Person to lead is enough, and that may be a Boy; and once in an
interval may suffice; then ’tis less Labour than half a Hoeing; and
for this we may well abate One Hoeing of the Eight.
They who follow the old Husbandry cannot keep Oxen so cheap, because
they can do nothing without the Fold, and Store-sheep will spoil the
St. Foin. They may almost as well keep Foxes and Geese together, as
Store-sheep and good St. Foin. Besides, the sowed St. Foin cost Ten
times as much the Planting as drill’d St. Foin does, and must be
frequently manured, or else it will soon decay; especially upon all
sorts of chalky Land, whereon ’tis most commonly sown.
The Expence of drilling cannot be much; for as we can hoe Six Acres a
Day, at Two Furrows on each Six-feet Ridge, so we may drill Twenty-four
Acres a Day, with a Drill that plants Two of those Ridges at once; and
this we may reckon a _Peny Half-peny_ an Acre. But because we find it
less Trouble to drill single Ridges, we will set the Drilling, at most,
_Six-pence_ _per_ Acre.
As every successive Crop (if well managed) is more free from Weeds than
the preceding Crop; I will set it all together at _Six-pence_[231] an
Acre for Weeding[232].
[231] This is when the Land has been well cleansed of Weeds in the
preceding Crop, or Fallow, or both.
[232] This may be enough, if the Land be well cleansed the Year
before, and considering that several Years in such there is no
Occasion for Weeding at all: And as this Calculation is comparative
with the old Way, we should examine the Price of weeding the sown
Corn, which by the best Information I can get, was in the Year 1735.
about 4_s._ _per_ Acre for Weeding of Barley; and of Wheat, round
about where I live, about 6_s._ and in _Wiltshire_, 15_s._ _per_ Acre
for their Wheat, amongst which much Damage is done by the Weeder’s
Feet, and yet some Weeds are left.
For a Boy or a Woman to follow the Hoe-plough, to uncover the young
Wheat, when any Clods of Earth happen to fall on it, for which Trouble
there is seldom necessary above once[233] to a Crop, _Two-pence_ an
Acre. _One Peny_ is too much for Brine and Lime for an Acre.
[233] But this Expence being so small, ’tis better that a Person
should follow at every Hoeing, where we suspect, that any Damage may
happen from any Earth’s falling on, or pressing too hard against some
of the Plants.
Reaping this Wheat is not worth above half as much as the Reaping of
a sown Crop of equal Value; because the drill’d standing upon about a
Sixth Part of the Ground, a Reaper may cut almost as much of the Row at
one Stroke, as he could at Six, if the same stood dispersed all over
the Ground, as the sowed does; and because he who reaps sowed Wheat,
must reap the Weeds along with the Wheat; but the drilled has no Weeds;
and besides, there go a greater Quantity of Straw, and more Sheaves,
to a Bushel of the sowed, than of the drilled[234]. And since some
Hundred Acres of drilled Wheat have been reaped at _Two Shillings_ and
_Six-pence_ _per_ Acre, I will count that to be the Price.
[234] One Sheaf of the latter will yield more Wheat than Two of the
former of equal Diameter.
_The whole_ Expence _of an Acre of drilled Wheat_.
_l._ _s._ _d._
For Seed 00 02 03
For Tillage 00 04 00
For Drilling 00 00 06
For Weeding 00 00 06
For Uncovering 00 00 02
For Brine and Lime 00 00 01
For Reaping 00 02 06
----------
Total 00 10 00
----------
The Expence of an Acre of sowed Wheat is 04 00 00
To which must be added, for the Year’s Rent of the Fallow 00 10 00
----------
Total 04 10 00
If I have reckoned the Expence of the drilled at the lowest Price, to
bring it to an even Sum; I have also abated in the other more than the
whole Expence of the drilled amounts unto.
And thus the Expence of a drilled Crop of Wheat is but the Ninth Part
of the Expence of a Crop sown in the common Manner.
’Tis also some Advantage, that less Stock is required where no
Store-sheep are used.